


When the in-laws have questions

by AlyCalypso



Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Canon Compliant, Multi, Set between ep11 and ep12, pre-wedding, season 10
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-09
Updated: 2020-03-09
Packaged: 2021-03-01 04:47:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,795
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23079577
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/AlyCalypso/pseuds/AlyCalypso
Summary: The day before The Wedding, Debbie has some questions for Ian and Mickey, mostly about love.
Relationships: Debbie Gallagher/Sandy Milkovich, Ian Gallagher/Mickey Milkovich, Lip Gallagher/Tami Tamietti (mentioned)
Comments: 8
Kudos: 175





	When the in-laws have questions

**Author's Note:**

> I don’t know what that is. I just... wrote it I guess? A couple of headcanons of mine and a need for Debbie and Carl to know everything there is to know about their brother’s relationship to the love of his life.

Coming down the stairs from having put her daughter to bed, Debbie stopped in the kitchen, where Sandy was waiting for her with a smile and a beer. How Debbie could like this girl so much after so little time was a little scary to her and her heart that had been broken once too many times, but she decided not to worry about it for now. She accepted the drink gracefully and returned the smile. She then walked to the living room where her brother and his fiancé were talking softly about what were most likely last minute wedding details. Mickey was sitting on the far end of the couch, crouched over his notebook laid down on the coffee table, while Ian sat in the armchair next to him.

« The flowers are going to be delivered in the morning. » Mickey was reading off his notes. « And then we need to head to The Bamboo... »

« I know. » Ian said with a smile, reaching over to put a hand on his fiancé’s arm. « I know all of this Mick, don’t worry, everything is going to be fine. »

Sandy sat heavily next to her cousin, and Debbie followed her, taking the last spot on the couch. Not even ten seconds later, Carl and Liam came from upstairs, each grabbing a seat wherever they could in the cramped living room.

« What are we doing? » Carl asked, looking bored and in need of a distraction.

« Just going over some last minute wedding stuff. » Ian replied, and Carl rolled his eyes.

« Again? I thought we were ready to roll. It’s not that hard. »

« Not that hard? When’s the last time you organized a fucking wedding? » Mickey barked back. « A lot of shit could go wrong. »

« He’s not wrong though, Mick. » Ian said in his most comforting voice. « We got this. »

Debbie nodded, approving of her brother’s relaxed attitude, and, sensing Mickey needed a distraction to stop stressing out, she asked:

« So when did you guys know you were in love with each other? »

Four eyes turned to her, two blue, two green, looking like deer caught in headlights.

« What? You’re getting married tomorrow and I’m not sure I know this. »

Carl nodded approvingly.

« Yeah, me neither. »

« Okay. » Ian laughed. « Why the fuck not? »

« Seriously? » Mickey raised his eyebrows in true Milkovich fashion. « We’re gonna do this? »

Ian shrugged and that was apparently all that Mickey needed to give up on complaining because he slumped back on the couch and let his fiancé do the talking.

« What do you want to know exactly? » Ian asked, looking at his little sister.

Debbie thought about this for a moment, glancing discreetly at Sandy sitting silently next to her.

« When and how did you realize you were in love with Mickey? » she finally asked.

Ian seemed to think about it for a second and then grinned when Mickey crossed his arms, him too waiting for an answer impatiently.

« I guess I had a crush on him for a while, he was scary but kinda cute in his own way. » Debbie and Carl exchanged a look, neither of them had ever considered calling Mickey ‘cute’, but Ian continued his story fondly. « And after we started... Well... you know... » Ian spared a look at Liam, obviously not wanting to be crude in his presence, but the smallest Gallagher just waved at him to continue. « Well I was... infatuated I guess, I really,  really liked Mickey, but I was just a kid who thought he was in love way too easily. I guess I really knew for sure I loved him when he broke my heart for the first time. »

Ian stopped at that, watching Mickey carefully, and Mickey watching him back as if both of them were trying to apologize without words.

« When was that? » Carl pushed.

Ian broke his silent conversation with Mickey and turned back to his brother.

« Just before Mickey’s second, well third total, stint in juvie. After Frank caught us in the freezer at the Kash and Grab, you know when Grammy was dying? »

« Frank walked in on you...? » Debbie repeated with a grimace. Ew.

« Doing it? » Carl felt the need to add.

Ian nodded. Ew ew ew.

« So wait. » Debbie tried to understand. « When did you actually start...  hooking up ? »

(The last two words scorched her tongue but she had to say it.) « I always thought it was when Mickey started working at the Kash and Grab with you. »

« Oh no, they were doing it way before that. » Lip’s voice suddenly announced and everybody turned to see him leaning against the doorframe between the kitchen and the living room. He smirked at the attention he was suddenly getting and took a few steps forward. « When was it... When Mickey stole the gun from Kash, right? Ian played the hero, and instead of beating each other up, they...  banged each other up. »

« Well... we did a bit of both, Gallagher is a dirty fighter and a kinky fucker. » Mickey winked, and Ian slapped him playfully on the knee.

« Shut up. » Ian replied. « I would have never dared touch you if I hadn’t had your raging boner right in my face. »

« Too much information. » Debbie whined, covering her ears. « I don’t want to have that image in my head. »

« So when did you, Mickey, knew you were in love with Ian? » Carl asked, not loosing track of the conservation.

Mickey blushed slightly at being the center of such attention and questioning.

« I don’t know. » he blurted out. « I just do now, isn’t that what’s important? »

« No. » Sandy chipped in. « We want to know. »

« Come on, Mick. » Ian pushed softly. « Tell them. »

« You already fucking know, you tell them. »

« Alright. » Ian smirked. « I guess Mickey always loved me, he couldn’t help himself, I’m such a loveable guy with such a magic dick. »

« Fuck you. » Mickey muttered, raising his middle finger. « I didn’t always love him, at first I just wanted to murder him, when I thought he raped Mandy. But then, I don’t know, he just got under my skin... »

« So when did you know you loved him? » Carl asked again.

« Whenhefuckedanolddude. » Mickey said, fast and so low nobody quite got it.

« What was that? » Sandy laughed.

« When he fucked other people! » Mickey finally blurted out. « There was this random dude when I got out of juvie, and then the old geriatric doctor. »

« Jimmy’s dad? » Lip laughed.

« I forgot you fucked Jimmy’s dad. » Debbie winced again, it was an image she had been more than glad to erase from her memory.

« Seriously ? » Carl exclaimed. « How did I not know that? »

« Because you weren’t paying attention. » Debbie pointed out.

« Anyway! » Mickey called back. « It got me fucking pissed to know that Ian could and was fucking other dudes and I guess it made me realize I wasn’t just occasionally banging him anymore but actually, you know... »

« Catching feelings? » Debbie smiled.

« Yeah, let’s call it that. » Mickey said with a dash of irony.

« My little cousin is a romantic. » Sandy cooed. « Who knew? »

« All of us. » Lip pointed out.

« Yeah, literally all of us. » Debbie added. « His wedding planning notebook looks like the stuff I did in middle school, with flowers and tiny grooms cut out from magazines. Sorry Mickey, but you have the scrapbooking skills and motivation of a 12-year-old girl dreaming of her first boyfriend. »

« Fuck you, fuck all of you! » Mickey broke at the teasing. « At least  I met the boyfriend I was dreaming of and  I am getting married tomorrow. »

He then stood up, collected the thoroughly mocked notebook and headed for the stairs, flipping everyone off. He stopped on the third step though when he noticed that Ian was still sitting in the armchair and not following.

« You comin’? »

Ian shot everyone an apologetic smile.

« Sorry, sex with Mickey when he’s angry is just too good to pass on. »

And then he stood up to trail after his fiancé, both of them disappearing up the stairs. When they were gone, Sandy turned to Lip who had stolen Ian’s deserted seat.

« So how long have you actually known about them? »

« Basically the whole time. » Lip answered. « Minus a couple of weeks I guess. Ian told me when Mickey was in juvie after being shot by Kash. And then because I was the only one who knew, Ian told me way too much. Probably not nearly enough emotional stuff I should have known, but way too much sexual shit I  never wanted to hear about. »

« What about you? » Debbie asked Sandy. « When did Mickey tell you? »

« He never did. » she shrugged. « Mickey and I weren’t really that close growing up, none of the Milkoviches are. I heard about it when Mickey came out at the Alibi and everybody talked about it for weeks. Then one day I was just going to the house, as I do, and Ian was there. As well as Mickey’s wife back then, and their kid, and the wife’s girlfriend. Some weird shit were going on in that house... »

Sandy shook her head at the memory, and Debbie nodded in agreement. Yeah, that arrangement had been strange. They all basked in the silence of memories for a while, before the peace was interrupted by a loud « Fuck, Mick! » and everybody in the living room looked at each other with wide eyes.

« I need to go talk to Tami. » Lip said before leaving in a rush.

« What about we watch some TV? » Debbie asked to those remaining and turned the TV on, pushing the volume button until all the groans and squeaking of the mattress were drowned in the screaming and fighting of the “Real Housewives” of some random town.

Debbie settled next to Sandy and they all let themselves be absorbed in the trash going on on screen, trying to forget their brother or cousin was going at it upstairs. It wasn’t like it was the first time, they had heard them fuck way,  way too many times since they had gotten out of prison, but it was never less awkward, and they would be married the next day, giving them even more reasons to just do it again, and again, and again. Debbie started to doubt they would ever get tired of it or less horny for each other (they had been doing it for almost ten years after all and were still interested), her only hope was them moving out sooner rather than later.

As Carl and Liam left the room and Debbie found herself alone with Sandy, she smiled. She didn’t know if she would ever live a great tragic love story that would end as well as Ian and Mickey’s, but she did hope that that thing she had started with Sandy had a future...


End file.
